ALEC

NEW YORK, May 18--In Jacques Tati’s satirical comedy “Jour de Fete” (1949), the village postman who delivers mail on his bicycle is dazzled by the speed and efficiency of the US postal service, shown as a movie-within-a-movie at the county fair. He scarcely could have anticipated the dire financial straits in which the once-exemplary, well-equipped USPS—the only delivery service reaching every address in the country --now finds itself. 

      This week USPS, which receives no tax dollars, reported a $3.2 billion deficit for January-March 2012, up from $2.2 billion a year ago. John Dennie, who worked for 14 years as a letter carrier and for 14 years as a mail handler on Staten Island, explains the often-overlooked reason for the deficit, usually attributed to the growth of electronic communication.

People in over 80 cities across the US participated in creative and direct actions against corporations that benefit from their relation to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a shadowy “non-profit” that buddies up state legislators with the biggest business interests in the world.

In Portland over a thousand people braved the freezing sideways rain to participate in a well organized (and unpermitted) march with affinity groups staging multiple actions along the route.

program:  Evening News Book content:  0 program date:  Mon, 02/13/2012 Short Description:  Who is ALEC and how are they purchasing our democracy? Visibility Site category:  News & Public Affairs Featured content:  Display this node in featured content lists on home & landing pages. Who is ALEC and how do they purchase our democracy? 4:46 minutes (2.18 MB)

read more

program:  Evening News Book content:  0 program date:  Thu, 02/02/2012 Short Description:  A.L.E.C: America Legislative Exchange Council Visibility Site category:  News & Public Affairs KBOO Station News Featured content:  Display this node in featured content lists on home & landing pages. The American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, is a non-profit organization that some call a front operation for corporations who use loop holes to turn state legislators into corporate lobbyists. Currently fourteen oregon state legislators are members of ALEC. Gene Whisnant represents the bend area from district fiftythree and was named the 2010 national associate of the year by ALEC.  K-B-O-O reporter Noah Fehlberg spoke with Richard Reid, a concerned Oregon citizen and activist, about what direct effect this organization has on politics. 4:33 minutes (4.16 MB)